A Review and Annotated Bibliography of the Literature Pertaining to Team and Small Group Performance (1989 to 1999)

Book excerpt: "The military, along with private industry, is relying more on small teams of specialized individuals who work together to achieve a common goal. Examples of these teams include emergency medical teams, aircrews, decision- making teams, industrial project teams, Special Forces teams, weapon system crews and everyday work teams. Training and military doctrine has been evolving to reflect this emphasis on teamwork. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to review literature published over the last ten years concerning team and small group performance. Specifically, the articles reviewed in this report represent a sampling of the research published in the social sciences, including psychology, sociology, and business. The team and small group literature reviewed includes examples of the many types of teams mentioned earlier. A summary and integration of this work is provided. In general, the research suggests that there are several components which contribute to the successful performance of teams, and that some of these components can be explicitly trained. Several training models are discussed." -- Stinet.